CARBONDALE, Ill.-- Rebounding troubles haunted the Southern Illinois women's basketball team in a 79-72 loss to Missouri State Sunday afternoon at SIU Arena.

The Lady Bears (10-9, 2-5 MVC) scored 17 second-chance points off 24 offensive rebounds as the Salukis (4-14, 1-6 MVC) struggled to keep MSU off the glass during a few key runs.

"I really think there is only one thing that needs to be said, and that's rebounding," said SIU interim head coach Adrianne Harlow. "We scored plenty of points. It's not our defense. It's just our desire to go after the ball."

The Salukis struggled out of the gate for the second consecutive game, falling in a 12-3 hole to start off. Southern rallied with a 10-0 run to briefly pull ahead, but the Bears controlled the tempo for much of the remainder of the half.

Trailing 31-21 with 1:34 to play, SIU closed the half on a 9-0 run with three consecutive 3-pointers to pull within one at the break. Southern started the game 1-for-10 from 3-point range before knocking in the last three of the half.

The Salukis continued the rally out of the break with its fourth-consecutive 3-pointer followed by a point in the paint to take its biggest lead of the night at 35-31. MSU bounced back, however, and the two teams traded leads before finding themselves in a 51-51 tie with 10:03 remaining.

In what was likely the deciding stretch of the game, the Bears used an 8-1 run to go up 59-52 with 7:47 left. MSU scored five points during the run after getting offensive rebounds.

"The crucial ones came because we didn't get a rebound and they kicked it out," Harlow said. "They rarely made their first shot, but they got second and third and fourth opportunities."

The Salukis continued scoring, but never got any closer than five points in the remainder of the game. The Bears hit nine of 12 free throws down the stretch after SIU resorted to fouling in the final minutes.